Andre came over, arms folded. He looked down at me. “Do you want me to carry you, or would you prefer I pull out the wheelchair I now have to carry in my trunk?”
“Not the wheelchair.”
He scooped me up and carried me inside to a guest room. I looked around at the room, feeling like I was in the midst of a fairytale. A large canopy bed occupied the center of the room. Billowy fabric was tied back at each of the four corners. The wallpaper depicted an enchanted forest. At the far side of the room, double doors opened onto a balcony.
He placed me on the bed and pulled up a chair to join me. “This room is always here for you if you need a place to stay.” He slid my sling off of my shoulder but left my temporary casts alone.
“Why are you doing all of this for me?” I asked.
He furrowed his brows. “I’m your mentor. I thought you understood that, as such, I am expected to take care of you.”
I watched him in the dim light, and suddenly his beauty was irresistible. Slowly I reached out and smoothed his brows. His eyes went soft. “But Andre, this is way above what I’d expect.” I let my hand drop. “How many vampires have you mentored?”
His expressive face shut down, closing me off from his thoughts. After a moment he responded. “A few.”
I fell back into the mound of pillows on the bed and laughed. “Oh-kay. That was an evasive response if I’ve ever heard one.” I stared at the intricate molding on the ceiling. “I just wanted to know if you treated them all this well. Personally, I’d probably be a little jealous if someone came in and replaced me after all this special treatment.” I laced my fingers behind my head.
“There is no way a vampire is behind these attacks—if that is what you are insinuating,” Andre said. “My coven has protected me for seven hundred years; no one is willing to chance the death of hundreds to get to me. Especially not when death may or may not mean damnation.
“And now that you’ve been accepted into the coven, another vampire cannot kill you. That is an act punishable by death or permanent incapacitation. And trust me, death is what we vampires fear the most. No one would risk it out of jealousy.”
It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “I wasn’t insinuating a vampire was behind the attacks.” Strange that he’d jump to that conclusion.
“Now that we’re on the subject, can you remember anything about your attackers?” Andre asked.
Hesitantly I thought about the two men who abducted me. “They both had guns and accents.” I knew there was something I should be remembering.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. Andre raised an eyebrow. “One of my attackers smelled funny. Like smoke and decay.”
Andre stilled. “A doppelganger came for you?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what the guy was. And I definitely didn’t know what a doppelganger was.
He cursed to himself. To me, he explained, “Doppelgangers are considered to be shadows of a real person. They are dark creatures that feed off chaos and negativity.”
“Sounds appropriate,” I said.
Andre looked weary. “Doppelgangers are usually hired hitmen, and they are good. Whoever is behind this attack—and likely the one before it—appears to be increasingly desperate. Doppelgangers are expensive. Rarely do their victims escape.” I didn’t mention that the men appeared to be buffoons. I figured I’d get a little more street cred this way.
Andre was looking at me for too long. I felt my skin heat up and my cheeks flush, embarrassed that he could sense all of this. Slowly his eyes left mine, traveling down to my lips. I could see the conflict playing along his face: to take advantage of the situation or to not?
I heard his almost imperceptible sigh as he pulled away, retreating to his chair.
I snatched his hand as he turned and pulled him to me. Our lips met, and like fire the kiss consumed us. That familiar electricity ran between us, and I wondered if it would always be that way. His arm slid under me, pulling me close, and I could feel him pressed flush against me. I ran my hands through his silky hair, relishing him.
Never was I so aware of the way my body reacted to him, and how holding onto him felt like home. I was falling for him.
Slowly he pulled away, looking happily shocked.
Crap. What had I done? We could both hear my rapidly beating heart. In contrast his remained as quiet as the day he died.
“I should let you rest,” he said, backing towards the door. So he wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation after all? From what I had heard about Andre, this seemed out of character. “Don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything. I have two guards stationed outside, so nothing is going to get to you.”
Those were some famous last words.
***
“Gabrielle.”
I woke to the sound of my name, not sure how long I’d been asleep. I looked around the room. It was still night outside.
I turned to go back asleep when I heard it again.
“Gabrielle.”
My skin prickled. “Who’s there?” I called. I sat up, now alert. A creak came from the far side of the room, and my head snapped in that direction. A figure stood outside on the balcony, cast in darkness.
My hair stood on end. I threw off my sheets and rushed towards the door to my room, determined to get the hell out of there and get help.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I stopped. I knew the voice that spoke to me. “After all, I’m a phantom that doesn’t really exist, aren’t I?” His voice tickled my ear.
I turned and stared at the man in the suit. He stood outside on the balcony, yet his voice whispered into my ear. He’d never gotten this close before, and never had he been so … personable. If you could call it that. Gooseflesh blossomed along my skin.
“Let me prove to you that I am real.” He smiled, and I reluctantly took a few steps towards him. Close up he was exceptionally handsome, and yet he exuded evil. You can’t be attracted to someone who scares the hell out of you.
“You mean to say you aren’t attracted to this?” He looking mockingly upset as he gestured to himself. “That’s too bad. I was hoping you’d find me more to your liking.” I stood there watching him just a few feet away on the other side of the glass, all my senses on alert.
“You don’t need to be afraid of me. I can prove it.” The balcony door unlocked itself and slowly swung open.
How did he do that? What was he?
The shadows gathered around him. “I am many things. You should know—you are many things as well.” He stared into my eyes. “I hear you killed a man tonight—how delightful. We can add murderer to that list.”
I broke eye contact and shuddered, disturbed by both his presence and the unwelcome reminder.
“Come with me.” He held out his hand.
“No.”
For the briefest of moments his friendly façade disappeared, and his face revealed intense anger. Then it smoothed over, back into his usual smirk. “If you do not come with me, then I will take you.” Unwillingly, my eyes sought his out. I backed up, knowing he was serious.
For a heartbeat we stared at each other. Then I sprinted to the door.
He was on my heels in seconds, his laughter echoing along the walls. He grabbed me, and I only had time to scream before a true and terrible darkness descended.
Chapter 19
BRIGHT MORNING RAYS woke me. I sat up, knowing something wasn’t right. I glanced about my bedroom. Leanne was already gone. At the foot of my bed was a newspaper.
I picked it up. “Victim, Villain or Hero? Violent Attack Leaves One Perpetrator Dead and Another Injured.” Scribbled over the story in sharpie was a note: When you get this, find me. We need to talk! I skimmed the story; my name was splashed throughout it.
In a rush the entire evening came back to me, ending with the man in the suit.
He took me. I shoved my fist in my mouth to stifle my scream. My skin crawled. I had no memory of the time between then and now.
I scrambled out o
f bed, and then paused when I realized my casts were gone. When had they come off? And who had taken them off? At least nothing hurt too bad; my injuries were almost entirely healed.
I grabbed my phone from my bag.
19 missed calls. 8 voicemails.
I clicked to see the details. The majority of the calls were from Andre, but the most recent were from Caleb, Leanne, and Oliver.
As I clicked through my numbers, Leanne came in.
“Where have you been!” she exclaimed. “I just got back from the hospital. They said you left last night.”
“You mean I wasn’t here when you woke up?” I asked.
“Of course not! When you didn’t come home I figured you were with Andre. But after I read the morning newspaper, I realized something was majorly wrong. I rushed to the hospital to find you. They told me you’d checked out last night.”
I felt my heart stop. I’d been gone for hours.
“I did check out,” I replied, “and I was with Andre.”
My face must’ve betrayed my calm response because Leanne crossed her arms and leaned on our wall. “Listen girl, are you okay? What’s going on? This is the second time someone has tried to kill you—technically the third, if you count that guy who chased you.”
I looked up at her and willed her to believe me. “I’m fine—a little shaken up, but fine.” What I couldn’t tell her was that that guy who chased me had subsequently abducted me.
“Okay, if you say so.” Leanne wasn’t buying it, not for a moment. But with a final skeptical look, she grabbed her towel and left to take a shower.
I looked down at the phone still clutched in my hand. More than anything, I wanted to hear the messages Andre left. I put the phone to my ear and listened to my voicemails.
The first message was from right after I was hospitalized. Andre had left a message saying he was on his way to pick me up. I skipped to the next message, also from Andre.
“Gabrielle, the guards said they heard you scream. I’m outside your door now, and I’m coming in.”
The line was silent as Andre opened the door. I waited for him to get back on the line, but the silence stretched on. Finally he found his voice.
“Cristo! What happened? She’s gone!” His voice was panicked.
Andre yelled to someone, “Secure the perimeter. We’re going to need to review all footage and check every room.”
Into the phone, he added, “Don’t die on me.”
The following three messages from Andre told me nothing important about what happened.
I rubbed my eyes. Either I was insane and I blacked out, removed my casts, and walked home, or I had just spent the night and morning with the scariest man I’d ever met.
The sun must’ve risen in the time between Andre’s messages and the three from my friends that followed. Theirs, unlike Andre’s, were only concerned about the attack from the night before. That meant that Andre didn’t tell them about my abduction.
I left a message for Andre that I was safe, and that I couldn’t remember the night’s final events. He wouldn’t receive it until he woke up this evening, but at least this way he’d know I was okay. Then I fell back onto my bed.
A deep, despairing fear possessed me. I didn’t think I was crazy. But accepting that meant I had to confront something even more chilling: whoever the man in the suit was, he was powerful and interested in me. And now he was unafraid of making contact.
When I went to put my phone back in my bag, I noticed a golden slip of paper between my notebooks. Where had it come from? I thought back to one of the first times I’d been in the library, reading the book on sirens. It could’ve been the same piece of paper that had fallen out of the library book.
I went to throw the paper in the trash, when black calligraphy caught my eye.
G
Alone within a crowded room
You have felt the breath of doom
Your predicament a result of fate
Seek me out before it’s too late
C
The hairs along my arm stood on edge. My initial is just a coincidence. It had to be, or else Lydia, the librarian, had passed along a note. The idea seemed so remote and implausible that I tried to shake it. I flipped the paper over.
Nona’s Bed and Breakfast, Cinque Terre, Italy
Below it was a vaguely familiar address. I went to the computer and Googled the name and address. The first hit matched the strange card, so I clicked the link. I perused through the images, all of the beautiful bed and breakfast and the coastal town it was situated within.
Just as I was considering leaving the site, I absentmindedly clicked the “About” tab. The paper slipped from my fingers.
Cecilia.
***
I sat in Peel Castle’s library, reading a textbook and waiting for the sun to set so that I could talk to Andre.
My thoughts kept drifting from my supernatural anthropology book to last night’s events and then the cryptic note I’d found. What was so shocking about the note was the possibility that Cecilia was both aware of my existence and trying to make contact with me. And Lydia mediated that contact.
I briefly considered confronting Lydia, but something told me that she’d deny involvement. I jotted down a quick note to book a flight to Italy. I think a reunion with my childhood nanny was long overdue.
I glanced out the window before turning back to my reading. The school grounds were awash in blue and periwinkle hues as the sun dipped below the horizon. Not five minutes after sunset my phone rang.
“Hello?” I whispered, packing up my bags. I got the stink eye from a girl sitting a few seats down.
“What the hell happened last night?” I could practically see Andre running a hand through his hair. “Are you hurt?”
“No I’m fine.” I glanced around at the people studying. They looked bored, and I wished I could be any one of them. My life no longer had a shred of normalcy. “Like I said in my message, I can’t remember anything.”
“How did this happen? Bishopcourt is impenetrable, and nothing was caught on camera.”
I remembered the man’s words from last night: I’m a phantom that doesn’t really exist, aren’t I?
“Where are you?” he demanded. “I’m picking you up right now.”
We ended up meeting back at my dorm room after he batted his eyelashes to this evening’s security monitor and slipped her a little under-the-table cash.
“Apparently if I don’t watch over you all the time, you’re going to get killed or maimed.” He was stalking back and forth in my tiny room, looking like a caged panther. “So from now on, I’m going to be watching you throughout the entire evening.”
“Excuse me?” He had to be kidding. I couldn’t deal with Andre for that long.
“This is non-negotiable,” he said. “I’m not going to argue with you.”
My eye began to twitch. I hated being bossed around, even if it was on behalf of my safety. “Well, sorry to burst your bubble,” I said casually, “but you won’t be able to watch me every evening.”
His expression was haughty. “And why is that?”
“I’m going to be out of the country in the next few days. I already booked the flight for next weekend.” It was a white lie, but only until I got the chance to jump on the Internet and book a flight.
“Where are you going?” He was suddenly much too close. “And why have you not cleared it with me? You must clear all travel arrangements with me first.”
“Puh-lease Andre,” I said, pushing him back to a more appropriate distance. “I don’t have to clear personal travel with you. Plus I’ll probably be safer out of the country.”
He came in close, once again invading my personal space. He was distracting at this distance, with his high cheekbones, strong jaw, and expressive eyes, and the electricity between us was almost overwhelming. “You’re not. You’re not safe away from me.”
I rolled my eyes. He was one wrong comment away from me losing it.
He continued. “No one will attack you so long as you’re with me. I’m coming with you.”
“Andre, no. This is about my father. It’s personal.”
“If I remember correctly, we were both mentioned in his letter. That means this includes me.”
I hesitated, thinking over his words and trying to find a good counter argument. Andre could see my momentary acquiescence, and he moved on it. “Great. Forget about your ticket. We’ll take my jet.”
My jaw slackened. “No—”
“There is one thing you have not mentioned,” Andre interrupted. He searched my face. “Who kidnapped you?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, attempting nonchalance. How was I supposed to explain the man in a suit?
Andre studied me. “You’re lying.” He rubbed his chin and looked out the window. “But why?” he asked, more to himself than to me. He turned to me. “Are you protecting someone? Perhaps a lover?” I could tell it bugged him to say that.
“Ugh, no Andre. That’s sick.” I cringed. The thought of intimacy with the man in the suit was nauseating.
I sighed, taking a seat on my bed. “Last night I was taken by someone who I’ve known for my entire life.”
Andre sat down in my computer chair, dwarfing it. He looked as though he was prepared to listen.
“I really don’t know much about who he is—I don’t even know his name—but I don’t think he’s involved in any plot to kill me. He’s haunted me for as long as I can remember. And he followed me here, to the Isle of Man.”
I looked at Andre, wondering if he believed a word I’d said. I wouldn’t. But, judging by his expression, he seemed to.
“He’s followed you your entire life? Have you ever mentioned this to anyone?” The corners of his eyes were strained, worried.
I shook my head. “Who’d believe me?” Hesitantly I looked into his eyes, and I’m sure he saw the vulnerability laid bare in my own. “I’d always assumed he was a hallucination. Last night was the first time he actually made physical contact.”
Andre’s foot began jiggling, and he ran a hand through his hair. “I believe you,” he said quietly. “But I’m hoping he’s not who I think he is. How did he abduct you?”